dunedin and port chalmers.

Our Christmas Day destination was Port Chalmers, a small suburb and "gateway" of Dunedin, the second-largest city on the South Island. We didn't expect much to be open, but enjoyed walking around both areas, looking at all the pretty architecture and beautiful viewpoints. We decided to take a shuttle bus to Dunedin first.

Also known as New Zealand's oldest city, Dunedin was named by Scottish migrants (it's the Celtic name for Edinburgh), and has a rich Scottish heritage. The bus dropped us off at the Octagon, the central hub of the city (yes, it's actually shaped like an Octagon), and also the site of many special events and markets. The area was pretty empty (mostly just our fellow cruise passengers and some local skateboarders), but had free wi-fi for us to send quick Christmas greetings to our families. We were also treated to the sounds of an intermediate bagpipe player, making our visit that much more Scottish.

Christmas tree in the Octagon

St. Paul's Cathedral and Dunedin Town Hall

We walked down Stuart Street towards Dunedin's Railway Station, which is apparently the country's most photographed building.

another photograph of the station to add to its claim.

The buildings in Dunedin are mostly of the Victorian and Edwardian architectural styles - very ornate and striking.

First Church of Otago

inside the church

St. Joseph's Cathedral

There are plenty of hills in Dunedin (which is also home to the world's steepest street, which we unfortunately didn't find), so we had no problem making our way to the surrounding buildings and churches for a closer look. We came upon a gorgeous castle-looking structure, which turned out to be a boys' high school.

Otago Boys' High School

Unfortunately, the Chinese Garden was closed, but we got to admire the awesome front entrance.

perfect photo for this years' Lunar New Year card...

After exploring Dunedin, we hopped back on the bus to return to Port Chalmers, which is a small settlement with a unique arts community. Besides a store and the Maritime museum, nothing else was open, so we walked up Church street, making our way to a lookout where we could see nice views of the city and the ship docking area.

Iona Church

our ship hanging out in the port

view of Port Chalmers from the Lady Thorn Dell lookout

It was our last land-port in New Zealand, although we were pretty excited for the next and final item on our schedule - cruising through the beautiful, majestic Fiordlands. But later that evening (right before Christmas dinner), the captain made a sad announcement: due to the terrible weather forecast, cruising through a narrow channel would be a dangerous venture. So we would instead be making the journey back to Melbourne a day earlier - but a bit slower, as they still needed to arrive on time.

I was pretty disappointed, but felt worse for Ben - it was the one part of the cruise he had been looking forward to the most (perhaps even more than Hobbiton!)."I don't care if we get terrible weather at all the port cities," I recall him saying, "Just as long as we have a beautiful day at the Fiordlands." And of course, the exact opposite was true. We had exceptional weather for every port day except Auckland, but our luck apparently ran out before we could get to Millford Sound. The next few days were pretty miserable due to rough sailing (they really weren't lying about the weather!), but we made it back to Melbourne safe and sound.

So, we still have yet to cross "Fiordlands" off our NZ bucket list - but hey, it just gives us a reason to come back again soon.

CK

our last sight of NZ land.